Empirical evidence for economic viability of direct seeded rice in peninsular India: An action-based research.

Purpose: This study identified critical constraints in technology adoption for Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) compared with puddled transplanted rice (PTR) practices. We present the impact of DSR technology adoption on paddy yield, income generation, and cost incurred on various farm operations. Furthermore, the study investigates whether a dry DSR practice provides more economic and production benefits than a wet DSR. Methodology: We used a multi-stage sampling (from state to district-to-village-to-farmers) and conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey to collect primary farm-level data. We collected 669 farm and household-level data and analyzed the impact of DSR and dry DSR adoption over PTR and wet DSR, respectively. Initially, the study employed probit regression analysis to identify the DSR adoption determinants. Subsequently, using the Propensity Score Matching approach, the study measures the impact of DSR adoption over PTR in terms of yield, income, and cost management. Finally, using the PSM approach, the study estimated the impact of dry DSR adoption over wet DSR. Findings: Probit estimates suggest that variables like education, membership in farmers' organizations, farm experience, institutional credit, crop insurance, off-farm income, and smartphone and television ownership positively regulate DSR adoption. The impact assessment analysis reveals that the adoption of DSR over PTR results in marginal yield improvement. However, the cost of irrigation, land preparation, and fertilization is significantly lower in DSR, resulting in an additional income of ₹5192/acre for DSR adopters. Moreover, a comparative analysis between dry DSR and wet DSR indicates that farmers can achieve ₹2467/acre by adopting dry DSR. Practical implications: Our research findings designate the necessity for implementing policies and strategies to promote the adoption of DSR among non-adopters. Besides economic benefits, adopting the DSR method can yield environmental benefits, improve soil health, mitigate soil erosion, and decrease water use.

Assessing and overcoming the barriers for healthcare waste management in India: an integrated AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS approach.

PURPOSE: Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the world faces different issues, and proper healthcare waste (HCW) treatment is one of them. If appropriate disposal of HCW is not performed, it will have hazardous effects on humanity. This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of healthcare waste management (HCWM) with the strategies to overcome these barriers. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of HCWM with the strategies to overcome these barriers, and different barriers are identified and categorized into organizational, waste handling, human resource and technical barriers. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) process is used to rank the barriers and sub-barriers. Then, the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method evaluates the strategies for proper implementation of HCWM. FINDINGS: The results show that organizational barriers are the most significant barrier, with a lack of coordination of hospitals with other authorities and no priority given to waste management issues as highly ranked barriers. The results of the Fuzzy TOPSIS method indicate that "Increase govt support and policies" and "Enhance training and awareness of employees" are the most feasible strategies to overcome these barriers for the successful implementation of HCWM. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study will be helpful in policy formulations for the proper treatment of HCW in an efficient manner. This paper helps to complete the research gap by providing the different characteristics of barriers. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper fills the research gap by expanding the limited knowledge in this field and providing further evidence on this phenomenon. The study also enables the distinctive characteristics of barriers to be understood within a particular context.

Label-free microfluidic isolation of functional and viable lymphocytes from peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The separation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) into constituent blood cell types is a vital step to obtain immune cells for autologous cell therapies. The ability to separate PBMCs using label-free microfluidic techniques, based on differences in biomechanical properties, can have a number of benefits over other conventional techniques, including lower cost, ease of use, and avoidance of animal-derived labeling antibodies. Here, we report a microfluidic device that uses compressive diagonal ridges to separate PBMCs into highly pure samples of viable and functional lymphocytes. The technique utilizes the differences in the biophysical properties of PBMC sub-populations to direct the lymphocytes and monocytes into separate outlets. The biophysical properties of the monocytes and lymphocytes from healthy donors were first characterized using atomic force microscopy. Lymphocytes were found to be significantly stiffer than monocytes, with a mean cell stiffness of 1495 and 931 Pa, respectively. The differences in biophysical properties resulted in distinct trajectories through the microchannel terminating at different outlets, resulting in a lymphocyte sample with purity and viability both greater than 96% with no effect on the cells' ability to produce interferon gamma, a cytokine crucial for innate and adaptive immunity.

Quality of life assessment in testicular non-seminomatous germ cell tumour survivors.

PURPOSE: Patients with Germ cell tumours (GCT) are at risk of long-term toxicities due to multimodality therapy. It is debatable whether there is an impact on the quality of life(QoL) of GCT survivors. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted at a tertiary care centre in India, using the EORTC QLQ C30 questionnaire, to compare the QoL between GCT survivors(disease free > 2 years) and healthy matched controls. A multivariate regression model was used to identify factors affecting QoL. RESULTS: A total of 55 cases and 100 controls were recruited. Cases had a median age of 32 years (interquartile range, IQR 28-40 years), ECOG PS of 0-1(75%), advanced stage III (58%), chemotherapy (94%) and 66% were > 5 years from diagnosis. The median age of controls: 35 years (IQR 28-43 years). A statistically significant difference was seen for emotional (85.8 ± 14.2 vs 91.7 ± 10.4, p 0.005), social(83.0 ± 22.0 vs 95.2 ± 9.6, p < 0.001) and global scales (80.4 ± 21.1 vs 91.3 ± 9.7, p < 0.001). Cases had more nausea and vomiting(3.3 ± 7.4 vs 1.0 ± 3.9, p 0.015), pain(13.9 ± 13.9 vs 4.8 ± 9.8, p < 0.001), dyspnea(7.9 + 14.3 vs 2.7 ± 9.1, p 0.007), and appetite loss(6.7 ± 14.9 vs 1.9 ± 7.9, p 0.016) and greater financial toxicity(31.5 ± 32.3 vs 9.0 ± 16.3, p < 0.001). Adjusting for age, performance status, BMI, stage, chemotherapy, RPLND, recurrent disease, and time since diagnosis, no predictive variables were significant. CONCLUSION: There is a detrimental impact of history of GCT in long term survivors of GCT.

Addressing the healthcare waste management barriers: A structural equation modeling approach.

Due to the growing population and advancing economy, medical waste accumulation has come to the attention of all facets of society. Although the issue of medical waste management planning has been addressed in developed nations, it still exists in several developing nations. This paper examines the effects of barriers under the Organization action, work handling, and Human Resource Practices section on the healthcare waste management (HCWM) sector in a developing country India. In this study, three hypotheses were constructed and tested using Structural equation modeling. The questionnaire was distributed among 200 health professionals to collect their responses. Ninety-seven responses were received, and 15 barriers were identified affecting the healthcare waste management sector. The results show that all three barriers (i.e., Organizational, Waste handling, and Human resources) hinder the Healthcare waste management sector. Organizational Barriers are the most significant among other barriers. So, the hospitals have to take appropriate actions to overcome these barriers. This paper helps to complete the research gap by providing the different characteristics of barriers. The development of a model for the analysis of barriers influencing HCWM is the Author's original contribution.

Artificial Neural Network-Aided Computational Approach for Mechanophenotyping of Biological Cells Using Atomic Force Microscopy.

The artificial neural network (ANN) based models have shown the potential to provide alternate data-driven solutions in disease diagnostics, cell sorting and overcoming AFM-related limitations. Hertzian model-based prediction of mechanical properties of biological cells, although most widely used, has shown to have limited potential in determining constitutive parameters of cells of uneven shape and nonlinear nature of force-indentation curves in AFM-based cell nano-indentation. We report a new artificial neural network-aided approach, which takes into account, the variation in cell shapes and their effect on the predictions in cell mechanophenotyping. We have developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model which could predict the mechanical properties of biological cells by utilizing the force versus indentation curve of AFM. For cells with 1 µm contact length (platelets), we obtained a recall of 0.97 ± 0.03 and 0.99 ± 0.0 for cells with hyperelastic and linear elastic constitutive properties respectively with a prediction error of less than 10%. Also, for cells with 6-8 µm contact length (red blood cells), we obtained the recall of 0.975 in predicting mechanical properties with less than 15% error. We envisage that the developed technique can be used for better estimation of cells' constitutive parameters by incorporating cell topography into account.

Pollution free UV-C radiation to mitigate COVID-19 transmission.

The high rate of transmission of the COVID-19 virus has brought various types of disinfection techniques, for instance, hydrogen peroxide vaporization, microwave generating steam, UV radiation, and dry heating, etc. to prevent the further transmission of the virus. The chemical-based techniques are predominantly used for sanitization of hands, buildings, hospitals, etc. However, these chemicals may affect the health of humans and the environment in unexplored aspects. Furthermore, the UV lamp-based radiation sanitization technique had been applied but has not gained larger acceptability owing to its limitation to penetrate different materials. Therefore, the optical properties of materials are especially important for the utilization of UV light on such disinfection applications. The germicidal or microorganism inactivation application of UV-C has only been in-use in a closed chamber, due to its harmful effect on human skin and the eye. However, it is essential to optimize UV for its use in an open environment for a larger benefit to mitigate the virus spread. In view of this, far UV-C (222 nm) based technology has emerged as a potential option for the sanitization in open areas and degradation of microorganisms present in aerosol during the working conditions. Hence, in the present review article, efforts have been made to evaluate the technical aspects of UV (under the different spectrum and wavelength ranges) and the control of COVID 19 virus spread in the atmosphere including the possibilities of the human body sanitization in working condition.

Hydrogeochemistry and groundwater quality assessment in Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh, India.

The current study was focused on hydrogeochemistry of Ambagarh chowki groundwater. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the water quality for drinking and irrigation uses, hydrogeochemistry of groundwater. For this purpose, various physicochemical parameters like pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl-), fluoride (F-), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), bicarbonate (HCO3-), and sulfate (SO42-) were analyzed. The major dominating ions in groundwater was found as cation Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+ and as anions in order of HCO3- > Cl- > SO42- > F-. The pH of sampled groundwater was ranged from neutral to alkaline in nature (7.0-8.8). Among, all-analyzed parameters in groundwater were safe for drinking purpose except few ions and bicarbonate content was also exceeding the permissible limit which was not suitable for drinking purpose. The potential health hazard element fluoride was varied from 0.1 to 2.2 mg/l and positively associated with the pH, Na+, and HCO3- content in groundwater. The drinking water quality index (WQI) was fluctuated between 12.22 and 185.56 and reported that most of the groundwater was suitable for drinking purpose except only one sample was unsuitable for drinking. Irrigation water quality assessment of the area was performed by evaluating as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), permeability index (PI), Kelly ratio (KR), magnesium hazard ratio (MHR), percent sodium (%Na), potential salinity (PS), and residual sodium carbonate (RSC). Whereas most of the groundwater were good and suitable for irrigation use excluding PI (3.70%), MHR (40.74%), RSC (22.22%) and PS (7.41%) were unsuitable for continuous irrigation. Hydrogeochemistry of groundwater evaluated with correlation, Piper, Gibbs, and other geochemical analysis. The Piper trilinear diagram reflects the Ca (Mg)-HCO3- type water was mainly contributed approximately 90% of entire sampled groundwater. The different ions in groundwater were originated from the rock water interaction through silicate and carbonate weathering of minerals.

Microfluidic Platform to Transduce Cell Viability to Distinct Flow Pathways for High-Accuracy Sensing.

Mechanical properties of cells such as stiffness can act as biomarkers to sort or detect cell functional properties such as viability. In this study, we report the use of a microfluidic device as a high-sensitivity sensor that transduces cell biomechanics to cell separation to accurately detect viability. Cell populations are flowed and deflected at a number of skew ridges such that deflection per ridge, cell-ridge interaction time, and cell size can all be used as sensor inputs to accurately determine the cell state. The angle of the ridges was evaluated to optimize the differences in cell translation between viable and nonviable cells while allowing continuous flow. In the first mode of operation, we flowed viable and nonviable cells through the device and conducted a sensitivity analysis by recording the cell's total deflection as a binary classifier that differentiates viable from nonviable cells. The performance of the sensor was assessed using an area under the curve (AUC) analysis to be 0.97. By including additional sensor inputs in the second mode of operation, we conducted a principal component analysis (PCA) to further improve the identification of the cell state by clustering populations with little overlap between viable and nonviable cells. We therefore found that microfluidic separation devices can be used to efficiently sort cells and accurately sense viability in a label-free manner.

Label-free microfluidic enrichment of cancer cells from non-cancer cells in ascites.

The isolation of a patient's metastatic cancer cells is the first, enabling step toward treatment of that patient using modern personalized medicine techniques. Whereas traditional standard-of-care approaches select treatments for cancer patients based on the histological classification of cancerous tissue at the time of diagnosis, personalized medicine techniques leverage molecular and functional analysis of a patient's own cancer cells to select treatments with the highest likelihood of being effective. Unfortunately, the pure populations of cancer cells required for these analyses can be difficult to acquire, given that metastatic cancer cells typically reside in fluid containing many different cell populations. Detection and analyses of cancer cells therefore require separation from these contaminating cells. Conventional cell sorting approaches such as Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting or Magnetic Activated Cell Sorting rely on the presence of distinct surface markers on cells of interest which may not be known nor exist for cancer applications. In this work, we present a microfluidic platform capable of label-free enrichment of tumor cells from the ascites fluid of ovarian cancer patients. This approach sorts cells based on differences in biomechanical properties, and therefore does not require any labeling or other pre-sort interference with the cells. The method is also useful in the cases when specific surface markers do not exist for cells of interest. In model ovarian cancer cell lines, the method was used to separate invasive subtypes from less invasive subtypes with an enrichment of ~ sixfold. In ascites specimens from ovarian cancer patients, we found the enrichment protocol resulted in an improved purity of P53 mutant cells indicative of the presence of ovarian cancer cells. We believe that this technology could enable the application of personalized medicine based on analysis of liquid biopsy patient specimens, such as ascites from ovarian cancer patients, for quick evaluation of metastatic disease progression and determination of patient-specific treatment.

Carbon storage, flux and mitigation potential of tropical Sal mixed deciduous forest ecosystem in Chhattisgarh, India.

Tropical forests are considered for greater species diversity and ensure climate change mitigation through carbon (C) sink which maintains terrestrial C storage in the world. Tree provides both tangible (timber, fuelwood, etc. For humans) and intangible benefits (as climate security through C sink) that maintains ecosystem processes. Tropical Sal forests are gaining popularity due to its remarkable contribution as C sink, storage, budget and flux. In the present study, an effort has been made to explore vegetational statistics along with C storage, budget and flux in four different site qualities (SQ) of Sal dominating tropical deciduous forest of Chhattisgarh, India. The density (individuals/ha) and basal area (m2/ha) varied from 710 to 1010 and 33.5-46.8 in tree, 2000-2500 and 0.32-0.33 in sapling and 9750-14500 and 17.96-21.43 in seedling, respectively in varying SQ. The total biomass varied from 182.27 to 375.84 t/ha in varying SQ. The total C in trees varied from 79.86 to 163.63 t ha-1. Quantity of C in above ground and below ground portions in trees on different sites were 72.32-143.36 t/ha and 7.54-20.27 t/ha, respectively. Total aboveground tree C sequestration values ranged between 5.12 and 11.68 t C ha-1yr-1 on different SQ. The C storage and net fluxes were represented in compartment models to assess the various SQ. As per models, forest received 14.63, 10.81, 8.19 and 6.83 t/ha/yr of C input through net primary production (NPP) in SQ-I, SQ-II, SQ-III and SQ-IV, respectively which are depleted as 3.55, 3.12, 2.77 and 2.33 t/ha/yr as total C input in the soil. Moreover 1.77 (SQ-I), 1.60 (SQ-II), 1.46 (SQ-III) and 1.30 (SQ-IV) t ha-1 yr-1of C were transferred from foliage to litter compartment, respectively. These dynamics, budgeting and flux of C represents "how C stored and moved within an ecosystem". Similarly, it affects overall terrestrial C pools that is governed by varying SQ.

Hydroquinone exposure accumulates neutral lipid by the activation of CDP-DAG pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Benzene metabolites (HQ and BQ) are toxic compounds and their presence in human cause alteration in cellular respiration and kidney damage. In the current study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model organism and acute exposure of hydroquinone (HQ) decreased cell growth and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS). The expression of apoptosis regulatory genes (YCA1, NUC1, YSP1 and AIF1) were increased with HQ exposure in the wild-type cells. HQ exposure in the wild-type cells altered both the phospholipid and neutral lipid levels. Phosphatidylcholine is a vital membrane lipid that has a vital role in membrane biogenesis and was increased significantly with HQ. The neutral lipid results were supported with lipid droplets data and mRNA expression study. The phospholipid knockouts (Kennedy pathway) accumulated neutral lipids via the CDP-DAG (cytidine-diphosphate-diacylglycerol) pathway genes both in the presence and absence of HQ.

Stiffness based enrichment of leukemia cells using microfluidics.

To improve the survival rate of cancer patients, new diagnosis strategies are necessary to detect lower levels of cancer cells before and after treatment regimens. The scarcity of diseased cells, particularly in residual disease after treatment, demands highly sensitive detection approaches or the ability to enrich the diseased cells in relation to normal cells. We report a label-free microfluidic approach to enrich leukemia cells from healthy cells using inherent differences in cell biophysical properties. The microfluidic device consists of a channel with an array of diagonal ridges that recurrently compress and translate flowing cells in proportion to cell stiffness. Using devices optimized for acute T cell leukemia model Jurkat, the stiffer white blood cells were translated orthogonally to the channel length, while softer leukemia cells followed hydrodynamic flow. The device enriched Jurkat leukemia cells from white blood cells with an enrichment factor of over 760. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the device were found to be > 0.8 . The values of sensitivity and specificity could be adjusted by selecting one or multiple outlets for analysis. We demonstrate that low levels of Jurkat leukemia cells (1 in 10 4 white blood cells) could be more quickly detected using flow cytometry by using the stiffness sorting pre-enrichment. In a second mode of operation, the device was implemented to sort resistive leukemia cells from both drug-sensitive leukemia cells and normal white blood cells. Therefore, microfluidic biomechanical sorting can be a useful tool to enrich leukemia cells that may improve downstream analyses.

Cell Mechanical and Physiological Behavior in the Regime of Rapid Mechanical Compressions that Lead to Cell Volume Change.

Cells respond to mechanical forces by deforming in accordance with viscoelastic solid behavior. Studies of microscale cell deformation observed by high speed video microscopy have elucidated a new cell behavior in which sufficiently rapid mechanical compression of cells can lead to transient cell volume loss and then recovery. This work has discovered that the resulting volume exchange between the cell interior and the surrounding fluid can be utilized for efficient, convective delivery of large macromolecules (2000 kDa) to the cell interior. However, many fundamental questions remain about this cell behavior, including the range of deformation time scales that result in cell volume loss and the physiological effects experienced by the cell. In this study, a relationship is established between cell viscoelastic properties and the inertial forces imposed on the cell that serves as a predictor of cell volume loss across human cell types. It is determined that cells maintain nuclear envelope integrity and demonstrate low protein loss after the volume exchange process. These results define a highly controlled cell volume exchange mechanism for intracellular delivery of large macromolecules that maintains cell viability and function for invaluable downstream research and clinical applications.

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma: Predictors of long-term outcome.

Background & objectives: Survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved in the past two decades following use of novel agents and autologous stem cell transplantation. To determine predictors of long-term outcome, data of MM patients who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) at a tertiary care centre in north India were retrospectively analyzed. Methods: Between 1995 and 2016, 349 MM patients underwent ASCT. Patients' median age was 52 yr, ranging from 29 to 68 yr, 68.2 per cent were males. Thirty three per cent patients had international staging system (ISS) Stage III and 68.5 per cent had received novel agents-based induction. High-dose melphalan (200 mg/m2) was used for conditioning; patients with renal insufficiency (estimated glomerular filtration rate <40 ml/min) received melphalan 140-150 mg/m2. Results: Post-transplant, 317 of 349 (90.8%) patients responded; complete [complete response (CR)] -213 (61%)], very good partial response (VGPR) -62 (17.8%) and PR in 42 (12%)]. Induction with novel agents, pre-transplant chemosensitive disease, transplant in first remission and serum albumin (≥3.5 g/dl) were predictors of significant response. At a median follow up of 73 months, median overall survival (OS) was 90 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 70.8-109.2], and progression-free survival (PFS) was 41 months (95% CI 33.0-49.0). On multivariate analysis, achievement of CR post-transplant, transplant in first remission, ISS Stages I and II (vs. III), absence of extramedullary disease and serum albumin ≥3.5 g/dl were predictors of prolonged OS. For PFS, achievement of post-transplant CR and transplant in first remission were predictors of superior outcome. Interpretation & conclusions: Treatment with novel agents, achievement of complete remission post-transplant, ISS Stages I and II, absence of extramedullary disease and transplant in first remission were predictors of long-term survival for patients with MM.

Facile Incorporation of "Aggregation-Induced Emission"-Active Conjugated Polymer into Mesoporous Silica Hollow Nanospheres: Synthesis, Characterization, Photophysical Studies, and Application in Bioimaging.

Typical aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens tetraphenylethylene (TPE) and triphenylamine have been used to construct an AIE-active conjugated polymer, namely, poly(N,N-diphenyl-4-(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)styryl)aniline) (PTPA), which consist of D-π-A architecture by Wittig polymerization. We fabricated mesoporous silica hollow nanospheres (MSHNs) which were encapsulated with the AIE-active polymer for applications in cellular imaging. It exhibits a positive solvatochromism effect by increasing solvent polarity, supported by theoretical calculation using density functional theory. The structure of the monomers and polymer was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques. Considering the advantage of high brightness in the fluorescence of PTPA, it was encapsulated into MSHNs by a noncovalent approach, and the surface was functionalized with an anti-EpCAM (antiepithelial cell adhesion molecule) aptamer through conjugation with γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane for targeting cancer cells specifically. The aptamer-functionalized Apt-MSHNs exhibited excellent biocompatibility with the liver cancer-Huh-7 cells used for this study and was efficiently internalized by these cells. Because EpCAM are overexpressed in multiple carcinomas, including liver cancer, these aptamer-conjugated AIE MSHNs are therefore good candidates for targeted cellular imaging applications.

Benzoquinone alters the lipid homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Objective: To elucidate the impact of benzoquinone (BQ) on lipid homeostasis and cytotoxicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Methods: The impact of BQ exposure on wild-type and knockouts of PC biosynthesizing genes revealed the alterations in the lipids that were analyzed by fluorescence microscopy, thin layer chromatography, and gene expression studies. Results: In yeast, BQ exposure reduced the growth pattern in wild-type cells. The gene knockout strains of the phospholipid metabolism altered the mRNA expression of the apoptosis genes - both caspase-dependent and independent. The BQ exposure revealed an increase in both the phospholipids and neutral lipids via the CDP:DAG and the Kennedy pathway genes. The accumulation of both neutral lipids and phospholipids during the BQ exposure was discrete and regulated by different pathways. Conclusions: BQ exposure inhibited cell growth, increased the reactive oxygen species (ROS), and altered membrane proliferation. The CDP:DAG and Kennedy pathway lipids also discretely altered by BQ, which is required for the membrane functions and energy purposes of life.

Soft Lithography, Molding, and Micromachining Techniques for Polymer Micro Devices.

This chapter enumerates the methods, protocol, and safety procedures of various fabrication techniques for polymer-based microfluidic devices. The polymer materials can be a solid or a liquid, and the fabrication protocol needs to be executed accordingly. Various techniques demonstrating the fabrication of microfluidic devices using solid and liquid polymers are described. Procedure for each fabrication process is delineated with detailed images. Further, dos and don'ts for all the fabrication techniques are explained in the notes of each section. This chapter will benefit those interested in the microfluidic device fabrication using polymers and guide them to avoid mistakes so as to obtain an elegant device.The techniques are listed as follows: 1. Replica molding 2. Microcontact printing 3. Micro-transfer molding 4. Solvent-assisted molding 5. Hot embossing 6. Injection molding 7. CNC micromachining 8. Laser photo ablation 9. X-ray lithography 10. UV patterning 11. Plasma etching 12. Ion beam etching 13. Capillary molding 14. Micro-stereolithography.

Diffuse erythematous rash after teneligliptin therapy: A case report.

We report a yet unreported, adverse effect of teneligliptin [Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor (DPP IV)] presenting as diffuse pruritic erythematous rash, in a patient, 2 days after initiation of the drug. The rash waned off after the discontinuation of the drug without any residual lesion.

Effect of iron deficiency anemia and iron supplementation on HbA1c levels - Implications for diagnosis of prediabetes and diabetes mellitus in Asian Indians.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the effect of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) on levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and to compare its levels before and after iron supplementations. METHODS: Age and sex matched subjects were enrolled and clustered in 2 groups: IDA (n=62) and healthy controls (HC; n=60). HbA1c levels were estimated by HPLC. Hemogram were estimated by hematology analyser. Serum ferritin (ELISA) and other parameters of iron profile were measured by standard guidelines of ICSH. HbA1c values and iron studies were repeated after 3months of iron supplementation to determine the effect of iron therapy on HbA1c levels. RESULTS: Significantly higher HbA1c levels were observed in IDA subjects compared to HC (5.51±0.696 v/s 4.85±0.461%, p<0.001). A significant negative correlation was observed between HbA1c and hemoglobin, hematocrit, RBC count, MCH, MCHC and serum ferritin in IDA subjects (r=-0.632, -0.652, -0.384, -0.236, -0.192 and -0.441). Significant decline was noticed in HbA1c levels in IDA subjects after iron supplementation (5.51±0.696 before treatment v/s 5.044±0.603 post-treatment; p<0.001). Post treatment, 70% subjects (14/20) with HbA1c in pre-diabetes range normalised to normal glucose tolerance (NGT) range and out of 6 patients with pre-treatment HbA1c in diabetes range, 5 reverted to pre-diabetes range while 1 of them reverted to the NGT range. CONCLUSIONS: Caution must be exercised in interpreting the results of HbA1c in patients of IDA and iron deficiency must be corrected before diagnosing diabetes and pre-diabetes solely on the basis of HbA1c criteria.